The ilogikal1 test thread

[ilogikal1]

As you may know, I like to "test" detailing products (read that as I have a lot of products and far too much free time). Well I'm going to stick them all in the one thread rather than starting a new one each time.

 

I'm starting with pitting Sonax Xtreme BrilliantShine Detailer, CarPro Reload and G|Techniq C2v3 against each other.

 

Prep. consisted of snow foaming with BH Auto Foam, a 2 bucket wash using Luxury Wax "High Foaming" Shampoo from the last Retro Waxybox (which, incidentally, is very much NOT high foaming in any way, shape or form) and then dried. As the car was wearing a coat of FK2685 (otherwise known as Pink Wax) which was barely 2 weeks old, I had to strip this off the chosen test panel. So the bonnet was attacked with HubiRestore on a black Hex Logic pad followed by a CarPro Eraser wipe down which... barely touched the wax, to my surprise. So out came the Tesco APC (at 1:1) which left me with nothing on the panel as was evident by the lack of beading or sheeting when rinsing. It was then dried again and each product was applied to the bare paint.

 

Immediately after application looked like this;

 

 

I've got a full size bottle of BSD which I've used before but the spray head on that is just woeful, so I opted for the Waxybox sample to see if that made any difference. It does. It's a LOT easier to use with the atomiser type spray head than it was with the standard spray head.

 

 

Reload, as it arrived (from 'The Cube' in case you're interested) and used neat;

 

C2v3 also applied neat;

 

 

There's very little to separate them on looks. I struggled to get a streak-free finish from BSD in the normal bottle, but with the better spray head it was considerably easier to get a good finish. Both Reload and C2v3 were even easier still as BSD is a slightly thicker liquid to the other two, I'd say Reload just edged it but there's very little between the two.

 

So onto the water behaviour then.

 

BSD

 

 

Reload

 

 

C2

 

 

And here is a fresh coat of FK2685 on the left and BSD on the right

 

 

Reload on the left, C2 on the right

 

 

BSD on the left, Reload on the right

 

 

 

Beading wise, BSD provided many more, much smaller beads whilst Reload and C2 were much more similar to each other providing fewer, taller beads.

Sadly the battery in my camera decided to call it a day before I could get any of the sheeting, but (at least in my opinion) Reload sheeted the quickest, followed by BSD and the C2.

 

So that just leaves durability. The intention is to avoid using anything that will top up the protection until each fails to get a fair idea of what durability I can expect to achieve from each product. I'll update this thread from time to time if anyone's interested.

 

 

In the mean time, purely because I enjoy a good beading picture;

 

Edited March 18, 2014 by ilogikal1

[GMballistic]

Very interesting as usual ilogikal1.

 

One thing: I know it's maybe not needed but have you thought about using 3M blue detailers tape for when you do these tests? basically to divide the panels up if you get me so that it is more obvious between which section has what product on it. Just an idea.

 

Really great write up again though and lovely pictures.

[Stutopia]

Loves these test, thanks for sharing. Not much in it to my eye. I can't decide whether I prefer the aesthetics of a nice bead, or better sheeting which leaves fewer beads and fewer watermarks after the beads evaporate.

[ilogikal1]

One thing: I know it's maybe not needed but have you thought about using 3M blue detailers tape for when you do these tests?

 

I usually would do on a flat panel - I did when I had several waxes on the roof for example - but Nissan kindly divided the bonnet up for me by design. It was very easy to control the spread of these three products so I didn't bother with tape this time.

[ilogikal1]

Okay, minor update because I noticed something with the dew on the car in the morning.

 

 

The dew appears to settle on each product differently - that's BSD on the far side, Reload in the middle and C2 on the near side.

 

From a distance it appears that the BSD section is still the wettest, Reload is the driest and C2 provides what I'm now going to term as "streaky beading". When it's dry there's no visible streaks at all, but introduce just the right amount of water and;

 

 

So I might have to be more through when buffing next time I use C2v3!

 

Now the difference between BSD and Reload was purely that the beading on the BSD section was much smaller and more numerous, the Reload panel was actually just as wet. Photobucket won't let me link directly to the full resolution picture which better demonstrates this but you might be able to make it out enough to get an idea.

 

BSD close up;

 

Reload close up;

 

 

 

And you'll all be glad to know I've now also got Hydro2, Wetcoat & Bathe+ to play with this weekend (between the F1, napping and the football, obviously) and a new wax test/comparison will be in order once the next Waxybox arrives.

 

Stay tuned for the next thrilling episode....

[GMballistic]

[HEADPHONES]

HydrO2 must be THE fastest sealant ever.

I used it on our Mini last week......body and rims.

First wash in 3 months!

In under an hour I managed a

2BM wash

IronX and clay the boot

and seal body and rims.

Will be interesting to see how it compares when you use it as I didn't do a thorough paint cleanse on the main body.

[ilogikal1]

Technically WetCoat should be quicker than HydrO2. But only because it's pre-mixed.

 

 

I'm not sure how thorough this initial test will be. I'm currently only planning to snow foam the car, APC everything except the front wings and bonnet (for the purposes of the above test) to strip the wax and then apply some variations of HydrO2, WetCoat and/or Bathe+ to the rest of the car rather than doing a full on cleanse first. The reason for this being I bought these products to get some protection onto my dad's caravan but if there's any chance of him maintaining that protection himself it needs to be quick and (virtually) effortless - to be honest I can't be a*sed to do a full on cleanse on a caravan either so this test is based with that in mind. That and the fact that pressure washers don't play nicely with caravans so I'll be test application with a hose only this time round - I'm aware of CarPro's advice/experience with HydrO2 in this context but not of how well the Gyeon products would work without a pressure washer.

 

 

I will be able to do a proper, full on job on another car next week providing I have time though which might offer more insight, but I was only planning on using Bathe+ (and possibly WetCoat) on that one.

[HEADPHONES]

I used a hose with a spray gun on fan setting for the HydO2 and it seems fine.

Deffo get good beading and a nice slick finish.

Unless your water pressure is weak I can't see you finding any problems.

[ilogikal1]

Good to know, cheers.

[ilogikal1]

Well it took me three hours to wash all 4 wheels, foam, APC (three times. Bloody stubborn that FK wax!), wash the front end with one shampoo, wash the rest with another, apply the HydrO2 to one side, WetCoat to the other, just Bathe+ on the rear end and then dry. Admittedly that included a fair amount of fannying about with changing shampoos and replenishing the APC and whatnot (seriously, whose idea was it to do the Reload, BSD, C2 test on the same car?! ) and at least half an hour watching the water behaviour afterwards!

To be honest I can't see any difference in finish or water behaviour between any of the different products (yet at least). But even Bathe+ was just so quick and easy to use it's unbelievable! And I've sealed the paint, the glass, the plastic trim and the wheels in minutes (once I stopped fannying about). Just need to see how durable they actually are now.

 

 

Just to get back on topic for a moment though, I have an update on the bonnet test. When rinsing the bonnet after the snow foam (BH Auto Foam), BSD was still beading the best, Reload was still sheeting the best, C2 not far behind on the sheeting side of things. BSD was actually out-sheeted (I know that's not a word, but I'm running with it) by the FK wax, even on the horizontal sections of the wings.

I then washed the bonnet & wings using G-Wash, mixed roughly 500:1, using a spray bottle and a foaming spray head as my "wash bucket" (and an actual bucket as usual for the rinse bucket), sprayed it into the bonnet then washed with a wet sponge (yeah, that's right I said sponge*. Deal with it.), rinsed out occasionally as usual and then the G-Wash mix sprayed onto the sponge before going back to the panel. The entire front end was washed using this method before being rinsed off with the pressure washer. At this point I noticed something odd.

Now when rinsing after using G-Wash, C2 was sheeting better than before (about the same as when it was freshly applied), FK was still sheeting about the same but both Reload and BSD had lost almost all of their sheeting ability. I left the front end alone whilst I played with HydrO2, WetCoat and Bathe+ on the rest of the car and came back to it afterwards and then rinsed it down with the hose instead of the pressure washer. By this point, BSD's beading had returned but sheeting was still struggling and Reload was still not playing at all. Whilst it's of no surprise that it is compatible with C2, it seems odd that G-Wash, which is supposed to leave nothing behind, would adversely affect both Reload and BSD but not the wax.

 

Anyway, I'll fire the hose at it again later and maybe even give it another wash (using 2 buckets and everything) with a different shampoo tomorrow to see if that changes anything. If not, I may reapply all three, or I may call it a day for now and re-start this test from scratch another time. It was clear that Reload was still working before using G-Wash, but I'm hoping that because BSD came back that Reload will too. I've run out of G-Wash now anyway so at least that won't cause an issue any more regardless.

 

So, lessons learnt from today; G-Wash doesn't play well with Reload or BSD. BSD is terrible at sheeting. Spray-on-rinse-off products and hose are a nice way to keep me occupied for a good long while. I frickin' love spray-on-rinse-off products today!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*and, if you've made it this far, by sponge I mean this.

[HEADPHONES]

Never thought a shampoo could affect things so much.

I always thought all shampoos were more or less the same apart from some having "wax" or gloss enhancers.

 

I applied C2v3 to the zed about a month ago too.

Hard to report on durability as when I wash it I normally spray some wax it wet stuff on as a drying aid (got loads at about £2 each so be rude not to).

 

The mini however I will run as a HydrO2 stand alone test alongside yours

[ilogikal1]

I was quite surprised that G-Wash had any effect on the LSP at all to be honest. The whole point of choosing that was that it's supposed to be LSP safe and has no wax or gloss enhancers, so I'm at a loss to explain it.

[ilogikal1]

Reload lives!

 

No idea what did it, nor what caused it in the first place yet (and I don't have any more G-Wash to find out) but all I've done to it since the G-Wash was pat dry with a microfibre waffle weave towel, left it untouched over night and just flood rinsed it today and both Reload and BSD are now behaving normally (C2 and FK already were) so the test continues. I'll see what happens next time I wash the car with a different shampoo.

 

In the mean time, is it wrong that I want it to rain during the week so that I can get a HydrO2, WetCoat, Bathe+, BSD, Reload, C2v3 and FK2685 beading picture (or two)?

[ilogikal1]

It rained. So that must mean it's time for some beading pics;

 

 

WetCoat;

 

HyrdO2

 

And Bathe+ on the roof

 

The pictures of the doors didn't come out very well - one door has got WetCoat on, the other has HydrO2 on - so here's the best I can do for a side-by-side comparison between the two (WetCoat at the top, HydrO2 at the bottom);

 

 

And this is just Bathe+ on the roof. The glass has Bathe+ topped with WetCoat on the right and Bathe+ topped with HydrO2 on the left;

 

 

And just some general shots.

 

 

 

 

A bit of flake pop anyone?

 

 

 

 

Now you might notice the lack of C2/Reload/BSD shots... that'll be because I'm not happy that they are behaving normally after the last (first!) wash, so when I get chance I'm going to re-apply them and start again from scratch, so that one's on hold for the time being.

[GMballistic]

Great beading shots.

[HEADPHONES]

You may have already seen this test thread but if not thought it may be of interest

 

 

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=320684

[ilogikal1]

Yeah, I spotted that one back when he started it... I've been resisting the urge to try Bouncer's for a while now, at least until I've used some of the other waxes I've got first.

 

It's interesting that he's been using Car-Chem Luxury shampoo to wash, I'll be moving over to Car-Chem Bespoke to see if that any similar effects on either BSD or Reload as G-Wash did with a view to using that for the duration of the test when I restart it. Although as I type that I'm now thinking of a new test - shampoos that claim to add protection....

[ilogikal1]

So, after a trip up to Atkin followed by a not-so-short jaunt yesterday (well, I had to make sure the new brakes were bedded in properly ), I've covered just over 200 miles since applying WetCoat & HydrO2, the return leg yesterday was done in mostly heavy rain and the car was still remarkably clean - most of the visible dirt was left from rain during the week which had dried off before the car moved at all so left those sandy sort of water spots.

 

Car was cleaned today, and apart from the lower areas and behind the wheels it took no more than a snow foam to completely clean the WetCoat & HydrO2 protected areas and even then the foam was beading higher up the panels within and on the glass - the self cleaning abilities of this stuff is simply astonishing considering the completely effortless application.

 

 

BSD, Reload and C2 had been reapplied to the bonnet now, so that test is back on (again). A couple of new observations on that one; Reload makes a terrible QD, it didn't touch the fresh water marks from washing in the sun today. Surprisingly BSD, the quick detailer of the group, is surprisingly poor in this respect too although it did remove some of the water marks. C2 removed more than BSD but didn't remove them all. So now there are water marks sealed on the bonnet. That's not going to bother me much...

BSD is still the grabbiest to buff and takes the most effort to apply. Reload is still the easiest to apply and buff. I was more thorough in buffing C2 this time, there's no visible streaks when dry but I thought that last time too.

 

 

Today's rain is imminent, so expect beading pictures shortly.

[ilogikal1]

 

 

[GMballistic]

^^ Ooohh.

 

 

 

[Stutopia]

 

 

 

I really liked the auto finesse and I'm not a wax lover.

[ilogikal1]

I quite liked them all, to be honest, but then I am a wax guy.

 

50Cal Pentawax was the most forgiving - it's easy to apply, easy to remove even if you leave it to cure forever (well, for 24 hours anyway) even when over-applied. You can apply to the whole car, go and have a cup of tea (it does need 10-15 minutes to cure), have a nap, go to the pub, get drunk, pass out, sleep off the hang over and have another cup of tea before removing it without any issues (with the wax at least). It even smells pretty good too.

 

AF Desire was easy to apply, easy to remove up to about ten minutes after which time it got progressively more difficult and needed some QD to remove the over-applied bits fully after 20+ minutes. I'd suggest doing no more than 2/3 panels at a time. It smells fantastic, slightly better than Pentawax in that regard.

 

AW Desirable was easy to apply, easy to remove up to about 5 minutes after which time it got very difficult to remove very quickly even with a QD, I ended up having to reapply a small amount of the wax to remove it after 20 minutes. I'd suggest doing one panel at a time with this one. It smells pleasant but nothing particularly outstanding like the other two.

 

Not so long ago rumours were rife that Desire and Desirable were actually the same wax - Anglewax manufactured, Auto Finesse re-branded - however I, like almost everyone else who has used both, can confirm... they ain't. Not even nearly. There aren't any rumours to dispel about Pentawax. Yet.

 

Looks - really can't distinguish between them under the woeful lighting in the garage to be honest/ I'll get some pictures when it sees daylight again at the weekend and re-address this and water behaviour then.

 

Durability might be tested, but I was planning a proper detail/summer prep. at the end of the month so they'll probably be removed at that point. I may reapply to my test panel afterwards though - I might even chuck a few more into the mix...

Edited May 15, 2014 by ilogikal1

[Stutopia]

Nice write up.

 

I really enjoyed the water behaviour of the AF Desire. I can't believe I just wrote I enjoyed water behaviour.

 

I received some 50cal snow foam this week, looking forward to using this weekend, a few of their products in the waxyboxes have been decent.

Edited May 15, 2014 by SuperStu

[GMballistic]

Very interesting write up.